10M+ views, 103K followers with AI avatar
It looks human. It’s not.
Hey,
You’re reading Hook to Cash — the weekly newsletter that breaks down how top content & info businesses turn content into clicks—and clicks into cash.
Each week, I dissect either a scroll-stopping piece of content (like an email, ad, or post) or a profitable business model—and why it works.
🧠 The Hook This Week
AI avatars. 10M+ views. 103K followers.
Rowan Cheung grew a 103K-follower Instagram account without ever showing up on camera. Everything you see is AI-generated.
Instagram Account: @rowancheung
Why it’s a swipe worth saving: A masterclass in scaling attention without personal burnout.
Let’s break it down.
🔍 The Breakdown
Rowan posted a detailed thread on Threads sharing what he learned from this experiment:
View the full thread →
💪 Key takeaways from Rowan:
The content itself matters more than the use of AI—audiences respond to strong storytelling, valuable insight, and easy-to-consume formats.
People don’t mind AI-assisted content—if it’s good, it works.
His AI avatar helped him 10x his output without adding to his workload.
Using an AI-generated avatar lets him stay focused on his strengths: writing and research.
His team still spends hours refining each video—AI is an amplifier, not a shortcut.
His audience is receptive because he talks about AI—context matters.
His current AI stack: HeyGen, ElevenLabs, GPT-4o, Claude, and (occasionally) Descript.
Tools he recommends for getting started:
🎯 Why it works:
It leverages novelty bias—AI avatars are still relatively new in the digital space and catch attention quickly.
It enables high-frequency output without exhausting the creator, making it sustainable at scale.
It builds a scalable personal brand that doesn’t rely on real-time presence or on-camera performance.
The format feels polished and professional—videos are well-researched, often include data points, media screenshots, and credible citations.
His niche is AI application across industries, so using an AI avatar aligns perfectly with his message—he’s walking the talk.
It serves as an effective lead generator for his core media product: The Rundown AI newsletter.
📬 Got a reel, ad, or email that hooked you?
Hit reply and send it my way—ad, tweet, email, landing page, reel, whatever stopped your scroll. I might break it down in a future issue.
Or forward this issue to a friend who’s always thinking about how to improve their content:
Next week: The email that instantly hooked me—and a breakdown of subject lines that stop the scroll and get the click.
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